Woman said she paid for puppy, still waiting for dog

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KKTV) Some families are turning to the Internet to buy pets. One woman tells 11 Call For Action she paid big bucks, but after waiting several months, still no puppy.

Woman pays for puppy, still waiting for dog

Purchasing a pet online has turned into a waiting game for Gabriela Platt. She says she tried to buy a Boston Terrier puppy on the website btpuppies.com.

"I called him...he said, 'Yeah' he's still got the dog, and 'Yeah, it's $650,'" said Platt. "No fee for transporting him, it's free for one more day. But he said $100 extra for the vet examination and the crate. And I said, 'That's fine.'"

So in April, she sent a MoneyGram to Maryland for $750.

"He called back that Monday and all of a sudden he asked for another $600, he said for insurance," said Platt. "I said 'I want my $750 back.' Then he said 'well it's going to take us three days.'"

"I waited until Friday, I texted him I don't know how many times, and he never answered back," Platt added.

She says she hasn't heard from him since April. Now when she calls the business's phone number, she gets no answer. The same thing we got when we tried reaching out to them.

"I'm mad," Platt said. "Looking back on the website, it was too good to be true because he said 'no shipping.'"

It's not her first time buying dogs online, so Platt admits she should have done more homework.

"Four dogs and I always got my dogs," said Platt. "The only thing – I had the physical address from those people."

The website for btpuppies.com lists no physical address and no email address.

One safe alternative from shopping around online is adopting an animal from the Humane Society of the Pikes Peak Region.

"Here at the humane society, we own every animal that we put up for adoption," said Gretchen Pressley, the community relations manager. "So you can make sure you're getting the animal that you want."

Katie Pelton: "Did you ever think something like this would happen to you?"

Platt: "Oh no, no. It never dawned on me that I’m going to be the one. I knew about it, that stuff like that happened, not with dogs, with other stuff, because I heard about it, but never that it’s going to happen to me, but it did. It really did.”

Platt said she wanted a new companion after her dog recently passed away.

"I could have already had another Boston and now I don't have nothing," Platt added. "My Boston is gone, and I don’t have a new one, and I still miss my dog.”

11 News reached out to the number listed on the website several times, but we still haven't heard back.

We also checked with the Maryland Attorney General's Office. They said they do not have any complaints for that business. But they also told us it sounds to them like a scam.

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